Electric egg cooker

ABSTRACT

An electric egg cooker for cooking eggs has a chalice-shaped housing defining a cooking space in which the eggs are cooked.

Wite

States Patent Hentschel et a1. I 1March 13, 1973 1 ELECTRIC EGG COOKER[56] References Cited [75] Inventors: Harry Hentschel, Munich; OttoUNITED STATES PATENTS Bjarsch, Traunreut, both of Germany 1,175,4423/1916 Hanks ..99/440 1,346,283 7/1920 Vierling et al.... ....99/440[73] Assignee: Siemens-Electrogerate GmbH, Ber- 2,402,883 6/1946 Gavalis..99/440 lin and Munich Germany Osterheld 3,143,639 8/1964 Wickenberg etal.. 99/440 X [22] Filed: Jan- 5, 19 3,166,005 111965 Jepson ..99 4403,577,908 5/1971 Burg .1 99/440 X [21] 109,442 3,147,689 9/1964 Sakamotoet al..... 99/355 x 3,411,432 11/1968 Willett ..99/355 [30] ForeignApplication Priority Data Primary Examiner-Billy J. W1lh1te Jan. 27,1970 Germany ..G 70 02 615.2 A i tant Examinep-Arthur 0. Henderson Feb.3, 1970 Germany ..G 70 03 539.1 Anamey -Curt M. Avery, Arthur E,Wilfond, Herbert L. Lerner and Daniel J. Tick [52] U.S. Cl. "99/332,99/343, 99/344,

99/352, 99/440 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl. ..A47j 29/02 A 1 t k f h h 53Field of Search ..99/352,345, 348,349,423, 6 cc m egg er of mg eggs as ac a we shaped housing defining a cooking space in which the eggs arecooked.

ELECTRIC EGG COOKER Our invention relates to an electric egg cookerhaving a housing surrounding a cooking space. The housing has aremovable cover.

The known egg cookers have carrying grips for lifting the cooker. Thesegrips are necessary because of the shape of the apparatus since withoutthese additional elements or grips moving the apparatus is verydifficult especially during its operation or shortly thereafter.

It is an object of our invention to provide an egg cooker of simplifiedconstruction. More specifically, it is an object of our invention toprovide an electric egg cooker that does not have the additionalcarrying grips and is nonetheless easy to transport.

It is another object of our invention to provide an electric egg cookerequipped with a conveniently located needle device for piercing theshells of the eggs to be cooked.

It is still another object of our invention to provide an electric eggcooker with which the quantity of water needed for cooking can bemeasured in dependence upon the number of eggs and the degree orhardness to which the latter are to be cooked.

According to a feature of the invention, the housing of the egg cookeris constructed so as to have a chalicelike shape. An egg cookerconstructed in this manner is easily grasped at the stem portion of thehousing and transported.

An especially simple assembly of the housing according to the inventionis obtained if the housing is constructed in two parts, one of the partsbeing a base and the other part a dish-shaped enclosure mounted thereon.A water dish is placed in the dish-shaped enclosure. The water dish hasan undersurface in which a ring-shaped groove is provided for receivinga tubular heater body.

The water dish and the dish-shaped enclosure define a hollow space inwhich are accommodated an electrical connection member, a timing memberand a signal member.

According to a further feature of the invention, the water dish and bothhousing parts are mutually joined by a central anchor bolt, the anchorbolt being secured in the bottom of the water dish.

A carrier plate is secured by the anchorbolt in the hollow space definedby the water dish and the dishshaped enclosure. The electricalconnection, timing and signal members are all mounted on the carrierplate. It is practical to locate an electrical switch on the baseportion of the housing.

It is known in cooking that the shell of an egg will often burst whencooking the latter in water or a steam bath; this can be prevented bypiercing the shell of the raw egg so as to form a small hole. Often thispreparatory step is omitted because no suitable tool therefor is athand.

Accordingly, it is another feature of our invention to provide asuitable tool for piercing the egg shell. According to this feature ofthe invention, a pointed instrument is located on the housing of the eggcooker. The pointed instrument can either be rigidly affixed orremovably mounted on the housing.

If the needle is arranged so as to extend outwardly from the housing, aprotective cap is provided to prevent injury and is removable when theneedle is used. On the other hand, if the needle is arranged on thehousing so as to be removable therefrom, then the needle isadvantageously provided with a suitable hand grip.

For receiving the needle, a suitable hollow extension defining a cavityis provided on the cover lid of the egg cooker. It is especiallyadvantageous if this extension is dimensioned or adapted so as to beusable as a cover lid handle in which case the handle of the needlewould serve to cover the cavity receiving the needle.

The egg carriers in the known egg cookers take the form of discs withopenings therein for accommodating several eggs and are provided in themiddle region of the carrier with a carrying arm which is provided witha handle at its free end. The openings for receiving the eggs arearranged about the carrying arm so that an intermediate space remainsbetween the placed eggs. This arrangmeent causes the space in the regionof the carrying arm to be inefficiently used.

This space could be used to accommodate additional eggs. Accordingly, afurther feature of the invention provides that the egg carrier beequipped with a lifting arm in lieu of the centrally located carrierarm. The lift arm engages the rim portion of the egg carrier at mutuallyopposite locations on the rim of the carrier. It is advantageous to makethis carrier lifting arm of a poor heat-conductive material having asmall heat capacity, for example, of a heat-resistant syntheticmaterial.

The lifting arm is advantageously secured to the egg carrier when thelift arm grips the rim of the egg carrier in a claw-like manner.Specifically, the ends of the lift arm can be provided with respectiveextensions which grip the carrier at the rim in a form-locking manner.The carrier can be provided with respective openings at opposite-lyinglocations on the rim thereof. Each of the end portions of the liftingarm can be provided with extensions having a notch. These notches of theend portions respectively engage the openings in a formlocking manner.

Thus, because of the lift arm feature of the invention, the centrallylocated carrier arm is rendered unnecessary and at its location anadditional opening can be provided for an additional egg and the otheropenings for receiving other eggs can be arranged thereabout withappropriate spacing.

The egg carrier is preferably constructed to have non-circular openingsfor receiving the eggs. This enables the eggs to be held in the openingsonly at limited portions of the periphery of the openings. Thisconstruction of the egg carrier results in openings between the placedegg and the edge of the opening so as to define a passage for permittingsteam to travel directly along the egg shell thereby improving thecooking action.

In known egg cookers, the cooking time is determined from the steamingtime of the quantity of water placed in the cooker. As soon as the waterplaced in the cooker is heated so that it is fully steaming, athermostat, as a consequence of the increasing temperature, causes theheating current to be switched off thereby discontinuing the applicationof heat.

With egg cookers of this type, the cover of the egg cooker isconstructed as a measuring beaker having a measuring scale arranged onthe inside wall thereof. The arrangement of the measuring scale has thedisadvantage that the number of eggs to be cooked at a given time is notconsidered. In addition, the quantity of water is subject to failure ifthe cover lid is held tilted when the water to be placed in the cookeris measured.

The invention to provide the possibility to enable one to measure aquantity of water needed to cook the eggs in dependence upon the numberof eggs to be cooked in a single cooking operation while at the sametime selecting the degree to which the eggs are to be cooked, namely,whether they are to be cooked soft, medium or hard. In addition, theselection of the appropriate water quantity is made easier therebysubstantially eliminating the possibility of making an inaccuratemeasurement of the water quantity.

Accordingly, it is still another feature of the invention to provide aplurality of curved bands arranged on the inner surface of the cover lidof the egg cooker thereby permitting the cover lid to be used as ameasuring beaker. Each band corresponds to the quantity of water neededfor a specific degree of cooking and a specific number of eggs. Thus,the bands permit one to obtain a precise measurement of the quantity ofwater needed for a particular number of eggs to be cooked as well as thedegree to which they are cooked. The bands can be closed or broken atspecific locations and can be, for example, molded or inscribed on theinner surface of the cover lid.

It is especially simple to obtain the precise quantity of water for aparticular cooking operation if according to a further feature of theinvention, the curved bands are arranged so as to be tangent at the edgeof the cover lid. In this way, when the excess water is spilled from thecover lid, it is directly possible to determined the required waterquantity when the water level reaches the index corresponding to aspecific number of eggs for a specific degree of cooking.

The indexing means of the invention can be efficaciously arranged ingroups or sets of curved bands in the cover lid of the egg cooker. Eachof the sets corresponds to a different degree to which the eggs arecooked, for example, three sets could be provided corresponding to soft,medium and hard boiled eggs, respectively. The curved bands in each setcorrespond to the respectively different quantity of eggs which are tobe cooked.

The invention will now be described with reference to the drawingswherein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of an electric egg cooker according to theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of the egg cooker according to FIG. 1equipped with a removable needle arranged on the cover portion of thecooker;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of the cover of the egg cooker equippedillustrating a needle rigidly fixed to the cover;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an egg carrier with the carrier portionremoved;

FIG. 5 is an inward view of the cover of the egg cooker; and

FIG. 6 is a section of the cover illustrated in FIG. 5 taken along theline VI-VI.

The egg cooker illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 has a chalice-like housingcomprising a base 1 and a cupshaped portion 2. As illustrated in FIG. 2,the cupshaped portion 2 receives the water dish 3 and is closed fromabove by a removable cover 4.

An anchor bolt 5 is secured to the underside of the water dish 3 andextends centrally through the housing portion I and 2. By means of nut6, housing portions 1 and 2 are tensioned against the lower face of therim of the water dish 3 so that no further securing means is necessary.

The water dish 3 has a ring-shaped groove at its underside for receivinga tubular heating body 8. The electrical connection member 9, andmonitor and signal members 10 are arranged on a carrier plate 11 whichis secured to the anchor bolt 5. An electric switch 40 for energizingthe heater body 8 is mounted in the base 1 of the chalice-like housing.

The grip 13 of cover 4 is constructed as an open, hollow extension ofthe latter which is closed by a removable cap 18. The cap 18 serves as ahandle for a needle 16 which projects into the hollow portion 15 of thegrip 13. When its use is required, the needle 16 is removed from thecover portion 4 with the aid of the handle or cap 18 and is used topierce a small hole in the shell of each of the eggs to be cooked. Theneedle 16 and its cap 18 are prevented from falling out of the grip 13by elastic tension of the cap 18 in the latter.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 3, the needle 16 is rigidly securedin the cover 4 so as to project with its point over the grip portion 17formed on the cover 4. A protective cap 18 which covers the needle 16 isscrewed onto the grip portion 17 or is similarly removably secured, sothat a grip is obtained which is similar to that illustrated in theembodiment of FIG. 2, which has a space 15 for receiving the needle 16.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, a disc-like egg carrier 14 is placed in thecooking space 12 closed by the removable cover 4. The carrier 14 has alifting arm 19 which grips the latter at mutually opposite lying edgeregions and is made of a poor heat conducting material with a small heatcapacity.

The ends of the lifting arm 19 grip the egg carrier 14 in a claw-likemanner with respective claw-like extensions arranged at the ends of thelifting arm. The clawrounding the latter for receiving the eggs to becooked.

The openings 23, 24 are dimensioned so as to be noncircular. Thispermits the inserted egg to be held only at limited portions of theopening. In this way a space remains between the shells of the eggs 25and the edge regions 26 through which steam developed in the water dish3 can pass upwardly and directly along the shell of the eggs 25 and sothat afterwards the condensate can run back into the dish 3.

The cover 4 illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 can be made of transparent orlight-penetrable material, for example from a suitable heat-resistantsynthetic material. Various sets of curved bands 28, 29 and 30 areformed in cover 4 which provide respective indications of a definitequantity of water when the cover is held at an angle.

Since the current supplied to the heating body and therefore the heatdeveloped are dependent upon the quantity of water filled into thecooking space, the

quantity of water determined by means of the curves is decisive for thetemperature of the eggs contained in cooking space. In this connection,attention must be given to the fact that the same degree of cooking fora larger number of eggs requires a smaller quantity of water.

Curved band groupings or sets 28, 29 and 30 therefore determine thedegree of cooking corresponding to the designations W-M-H. Thesedesignations correspond respectively to soft, medium and hard wherewiththe numbers 2, 4 and 6 associated with the respective curves correspondto the number of eggs.

For example, should four eggs be cooked soft, the cover 4 is firstfilled with water and the surplus spilled over the cover edge until thelevel of the water corresponds to curve 4 in the curved band set 28.This water quantity is then filled into the cooking space of the waterdish of the cooker. Should it be desired to have only two eggs cookedsoft, additional water must be filled into the cooking spacecorresponding to curve 2 of the curved bands 28 in order to maintain thesame cooking time. In contrast, if it is desired to cook six eggs soft,then, a water quantity specified by curve 6 is required.

While the invention has been described by means of specific examples andin a specific embodiment, we do not wish to be limited thereto, forobvious modifications will occur to those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

We claim:

1. Electric egg cooker for cooking eggs comprising a housing defining acooking space in which the eggs are cooked, said housing beingchalice-shaped, and comprising a base, a dish-shaped enclosure mountedon said base, a water dish disposed in said enclosure and having anunder surface, a tubular heater body, groove means disposed in saidsurface for receiving said heater body, and removable anchor bolt meansmutually connecting said water dish, said base and said enclosure.

2. An electric egg cooker according to claim 1, said anchor bolt meansbeing a bolt secured in the bottom of said water dish.

3. An electric egg cooker according to claim 1 wherein said water dishand said dish-shaped enclosure define a hollow space, said cookercomprising a carrier plate disposed in said hollow space and secured tosaid bolt means, an electrical connection member, timing member andsignal member, said members being disposed in said hollow space andmounted to said carrier plate.

4. Electric egg cooker for cooking eggs comprising a housing defining acooking space in which the eggs are cooked, said housing beingchalice-shaped, a cover lid for covering said housing, cavity meansdisposed on said lid defining a cavity, needle means for piercing theshell of the egg to be cooked, said needle means being disposed at leastpartially in said cavity, said needle means comprising a needle, andremovable handle fixedly holding said needle, said handle being adaptedto cover said cavity when said needle is disposed therein.

5. Electric egg cooker for cooking eggs comprising a housing defining acooking space in which the eggs are cooked, said housing beingchalice-shaped, a cover lid for covering said housing, cavity meansdisposed on said lid defining a cavity, needle means for piercing theshell of the egg to be cooked, said needle means being disposed at leastpartially in said cavity, said needle means comprising a needle fixedlymounted to said lid in said cavity, and removable cap for covering saidcavity.

6. Electric egg cooker for cooking eggs comprising a housing defining acooking space in which the eggs are cooked, said housing beingchalice-shaped, an egg carrier placeable in said cooking space of saidhousing, said egg carrier having a lift arm, said lift arm havingrespective end portions which engage said egg carrier at mutuallyopposite locations on the rim thereof, said end portions of said liftarm being adapted so as to grip said carrier in a form-locking manner.

7. Electric egg cooker for cooking eggs comprising a housing defining acooking space in which the eggs are cooked, said housing beingchalice-shaped, a cover lid for covering said housing, said cover liddefining an enclosed space into which water for cooking is pourable formeasuring quantities thereof, and index means disposed on the innersurface of said lid for measuring the quantity of water needed to cook agiven number of eggs to given cooking degree, said index means being agroup of spaced curves, each of said curves being an index for measuringthe quantity of water needed to cook a given number of eggs to a givencooking degree, said curves each being tangent to the edge of saidcover, whereby the required quantity of water is determined directlywhen the surplus water is spilled from said cover.

8. Electric egg cooker for cooking eggs comprising a housing defining acooking space in which the eggs are cooked, said housing beingchalice-shaped, a cover lid for covering said housing, said cover liddefining an enclosed space into which water for cooking is pourable formeasuring quantities thereof, and index means disposed on the innersurface of said lid for measuring the quantity of water needed to cook agiven number of eggs to given cooking degree, said index means being aplurality of groups of spaced curves, each one of said groupscorresponding to a respectively different degree of cooking, the curvesof each group corresponding to respective quantities of eggs to becooked.

1. Electric egg cooker for cooking eggs comprising a housing defining acooking space in which the eggs are cooked, said housing beingchalice-shaped, and comprising a base, a dishshaped enclosure mounted onsaid base, a wateR dish disposed in said enclosure and having an undersurface, a tubular heater body, groove means disposed in said surfacefor receiving said heater body, and removable anchor bolt means mutuallyconnecting said water dish, said base and said enclosure.
 1. Electricegg cooker for cooking eggs comprising a housing defining a cookingspace in which the eggs are cooked, said housing being chalice-shaped,and comprising a base, a dish-shaped enclosure mounted on said base, awateR dish disposed in said enclosure and having an under surface, atubular heater body, groove means disposed in said surface for receivingsaid heater body, and removable anchor bolt means mutually connectingsaid water dish, said base and said enclosure.
 2. An electric egg cookeraccording to claim 1, said anchor bolt means being a bolt secured in thebottom of said water dish.
 3. An electric egg cooker according to claim1 wherein said water dish and said dish-shaped enclosure define a hollowspace, said cooker comprising a carrier plate disposed in said hollowspace and secured to said bolt means, an electrical connection member,timing member and signal member, said members being disposed in saidhollow space and mounted to said carrier plate.
 4. Electric egg cookerfor cooking eggs comprising a housing defining a cooking space in whichthe eggs are cooked, said housing being chalice-shaped, a cover lid forcovering said housing, cavity means disposed on said lid defining acavity, needle means for piercing the shell of the egg to be cooked,said needle means being disposed at least partially in said cavity, saidneedle means comprising a needle, and removable handle fixedly holdingsaid needle, said handle being adapted to cover said cavity when saidneedle is disposed therein.
 5. Electric egg cooker for cooking eggscomprising a housing defining a cooking space in which the eggs arecooked, said housing being chalice-shaped, a cover lid for covering saidhousing, cavity means disposed on said lid defining a cavity, needlemeans for piercing the shell of the egg to be cooked, said needle meansbeing disposed at least partially in said cavity, said needle meanscomprising a needle fixedly mounted to said lid in said cavity, andremovable cap for covering said cavity.
 6. Electric egg cooker forcooking eggs comprising a housing defining a cooking space in which theeggs are cooked, said housing being chalice-shaped, an egg carrierplaceable in said cooking space of said housing, said egg carrier havinga lift arm, said lift arm having respective end portions which engagesaid egg carrier at mutually opposite locations on the rim thereof, saidend portions of said lift arm being adapted so as to grip said carrierin a form-locking manner.
 7. Electric egg cooker for cooking eggscomprising a housing defining a cooking space in which the eggs arecooked, said housing being chalice-shaped, a cover lid for covering saidhousing, said cover lid defining an enclosed space into which water forcooking is pourable for measuring quantities thereof, and index meansdisposed on the inner surface of said lid for measuring the quantity ofwater needed to cook a given number of eggs to given cooking degree,said index means being a group of spaced curves, each of said curvesbeing an index for measuring the quantity of water needed to cook agiven number of eggs to a given cooking degree, said curves each beingtangent to the edge of said cover, whereby the required quantity ofwater is determined directly when the surplus water is spilled from saidcover.